Out of place in Lindenstrasse: On the representation of ethnicity in a German soap opera

摘要

The essay takes a critical look at the constructions of multiculturalism and ethnicity in the German average urban neighborhood as portrayed in the German TV-serial Lindenstrasse. Arguably, the serial has filled a void in representing ethnic diversity in public broadcasting. By means of a flexible person- and lifestyle-centered approach, the serial has complicated media representations of German immigrants and refugees. Yet it is evident from the overall design of the plots and characters that Lindenstrasse has not substantially challenged representational frameworks beyond a certain point. Instead, Lindenstrasse reproduces the clich of what has come to be known as the guest worker. My analysis focuses on three Asian settings, arguing that the audiences are confronted with a rather deplorable image of the ethnic other, whose diversity is confined into the inner - inaccessible - spheres of the private. Lindenstrasse thus collapses into the field of a white majority consumerism characteristic for other media formats.